Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Mr. Consistency at it again

There are those who think Alex Ovechkin is not off to much of a start, given his standing among the elite players in hockey.  But in the context of his still-young career, he is off to a start that is fairly consistent with his starts in other seasons.  Working backward from his three-game start so far, his career three-game starts look like this:

2010: 3-2-5, +2, 2GWG, 16 SOG
2009: 5-4-9, +6, 1GWG, 17 SOG (finished with career high in PPG)
2008: 2-0-2, +2, 15 SOG
2007: 1-2-3, +2, 1 GWG, 12 SOG (finished with career high in goals)
2006: 2-1-3, -1, 1 GWG, 24 SOG
2005: 2-2-4, -1, 9 SOG

Strangely enough he has not had a power play goal among his three-game totals since scoring one against Carolina on October 7, 2006 (the same night he set a career high in shots on goal in a game, with 15).